Model Railroading > Walthers gondola scrap load

I purchased Chooch item 214-7223 from Walthers.  This is the HO scale cast resin freight car load - Baled Random Scrap for Gondolas.  I don't know if this was made by Chooch before or after Walthers took over their business.

The problem is the load is too wide to fit into any HO scale gondola I have.  The description at Walthers.com says it fits into P2K, Athean, Roundhouse and Walthers gondolas.   I have gondolas of all those types and it fits none of them.  I measured the load and it comes to 9 scale feet wide.  Other Chooch loads that do fit are a bit more than 8 scale feet wide.

Has anyone one here bad problems like this before with Chooch?  It only cost $7.69 so it's not a big deal financially, but it is a pain because I had mapped various load to certain gondolas and then purchased the loads, and now I have to reconsider all that.  I suppose I can cut it up and put it in my scrap yard to represent baled scrap piles that have not been loaded into a gondola.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/25 08:11 by BlackWidow.

Have you thought about using a belt sander to shave down the width? I've done that on a number of various Chooch and other manufacturers' open-top loads to make them fit, both for length and width.

Art House

All mine are probably +30 years old and I had to use coarse sandpaper to make them fit various manufacturers.
Takes about 5 minutes for length and width adjustments.

Regards, Jack

I always had to used a bench grinder to clean up the loads to drop in. I don't have belt sander.
you could also use a rasp,  Sanding blocks or similar to clean them up. Cutting them to fit smaller 
and longer once can be cut up to make loads too.

Get a sheet of 80 grit sandpaper. Lay it flat on a work surface and sand the edges down on the resin load. That has to be done on almost all resin loads . ---  Ken

IU have found that same issue with scrap loads and other types as well.  One is the load for Walthers SEICO pulpwood cars (Southern "V-deck" variety) that are too long to fit in between the bulkheads due to is some sort of bulge at both ends of every one of those loads.  I do not have a sander and the one at the club I'm in has disappeared with no one knowing who moved it and/or to where.

One day, just once, I'd like to see a plan come together...................

That doesn't even seem to be a problem to me, I would call it an issue.  The cure is simple, sand it down a bit. 

Folks, here is the problem withat too many modelers today.  They want instant satisfaction.  They want to take something out of the package and have it be perfect, with absolutely no effort.  This hobby is called Model Railroading.  From time to time one must do some real modeling.  Yet, an issue like this is considered to be a problem by many in this hobby. I just don't get it.  

Brother break out some sand paper, or a small bell sander and have at it.  It won't take long and this "problem" will be taken care.  Best of all, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you took care if the issue.  

DB

Thanks for all the suggestions, and I had already considered many of them.  I don't have a belt sander so that is not an option.  I do have a table saw and considered that and still might do that, but I hate putting my hand that close to the blade.  This item is not just a smidgen too wide so that sandpaper could fix it.  I should have mentioned it in my post, but it is about quarter of an inch too wide.  That is why it is so surprising.  It's not even close.  The edges of this load go over the sides of the gondola when placed on top of it.  Perhaps if I really put some effort into it I could sand off a quarter inch but that might take awhile.

I am not into the instant gratification here.  I need a couple of dozen loaded gondolas.  I purchase a few and have made many more but cutting up old tubes of toothpaste, lotion, whatever, as well as using metal shavings and whatever I could find and distress enough to look like scrap.  I like the look of having many types of loads, so this is just one of many loads I have built and am building.  I also need to weather the cars, and that usually takes longer than making the loads.  It is true that I wanted "instant gratification" with this particular load because when I planned out the loads, I counted this one as a quickie, as opposed to the handmade loads.